Emily Mason was born in New York City in 1932. She graduated from New York City’s High School of Music and Art and studied at Bennington College for two years before attending and graduating from the Cooper Union. She spent 1956–58 in Italy on a Fulbright grant for painting, where she studied at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Venice.
During Mason’s two-year stay in Italy she married the painter Wolf Kahn, whom she had met earlier in New York. Mason and Kahn’s daughter, Cecily Kahn, is also an abstract painter, as was Emily Mason’s mother, Alice Trumbull Mason, a founding member of the American Abstract Artists group in New York.
Mason spent more than six decades exploring her distinctive vein of lyrical, luminous abstraction. Her paintings executed in oil are distinguished by a sense of intriguing intimacy combined with uncompromising, though gentle, intensity. They evince a sense of structure within open, luminous space and juxtapose robust color harmonies with vivid contrasts that create an engaging optical vibration.
Robert Berlind said of the artist in Art in America, “Mason works within the improvisational model of Abstract Expressionism, though notably without angst or bravado.”
Mason exhibited steadily throughout her career since she emerged on the Tenth Street gallery scene with multiple exhibitions at the Area Gallery in New York City in the 1960s. In 1979, she was awarded the Ranger Fund Purchase Prize by the National Academy. She taught painting at Hunter College for more than thirty years. Her work has been included in numerous public and private collections.
Emily Mason: The Fifth Element, a comprehensive treatment of her work by Art in America associate managing editor David Ebony, was published in 2006 by George Braziller publishers. A second monograph, Emily Mason: The Light in Spring, was published in 2015 by the University Press of New England.
Mason died in December of 2019 in Brattleboro, Vermont.
Find a collection of original Emily Mason paintings and other art on 1stDibs.
(Biography provided by Miles McEnery Gallery)
$32,000
Emily Mason - ex-Lehman Brothers Art Collection, Abstract, Signed oil on paper
By Emily Mason
Located in New York, NY
Emily Mason So Slight a Film (from the Lehman Brothers art collection), 1978 Oil on paper Abstract Expressionist painting Signed and dated 'Emily Mason '78' bottom right in pencil Fr...
Oil, Graphite
$14,500
Emily Mason, Heart monotype, signed & inscribed in artists frame, Wolf Kahn wife
By Emily Mason
Located in New York, NY
Emily Mason Untitled (For Douglas), 1990 Carborundum etching and monotype on paper Pencil signed, dated and inscribed "For Douglas" Vintage wood frame included This work was created ...
Mixed Media, Etching, Monotype
$1,000
Emily Mason The Fifth Element, HB Book, Hand signed and inscribed by Emily Mason
By Emily Mason
Located in New York, NY
Emily Mason The Fifth Element (Hand signed and inscribed by Emily Mason), 2009 Hardback monograph with dust jacket (Hand signed, dated and inscribed by Emily Mason) Hand signed in ma...
Paper, Ink, Mixed Media, Lithograph, Offset
Gold Leaf and Mesh Lithograph
By Patricia A. Pearce
Located in Soquel, CA
Stunning horizontal abstracted mesh and gold-leaf lithograph on heavy bond paper with artist's protocol notes (for future projects) by Patricia A. Pearce (American, b. 1948). Unsigne...
Gold Leaf
The Surf Journals, November 14-15, 1984, Classic Day
By Tony Caramanico
Located in Fairfield, CT
Tony Caramanico, famed Montauk-based surfer, created a life around surfing since the first day he picked up a board in 1963- a day he fondly recalls. Though his surfing has taken him...
Paper, Color
$763
H 23.63 in W 31.5 in D 0.04 in
Authorised-The Blue Dove-La colombe bleue-offset Lithography 1996-German Publish
By Pablo Picasso
Located in London, GB
Lithograph Unsigned and unnumbered, as issued. in Mint Condition; never framed or matted. It was acquired directly from the art publish house in Germany, Kunstverlag via Berlin Gallery. Originally, exhibited March 10 - 11, 1962, this work was created after an engraving entitled The Blue Dove, and bears the date of that work: December 28, 1961. Hand-signed on master plate by Pablo Picasso (1881- 1973) and the print is with authorised printed-signature at the lower right. It is the one of the 4000 edition was released as a poster with lettering below the image that is referenced written in French, translated as © PABLO PICASSO - BLUE DOVE - 1961 - GALLERY OF ART AND PEACE, rights reserved, printed especially for the account of Migneco & Smith® - 60821" The print is Pablo Picasso's famous artwork, the "Dove of Peace" ( Colombe de la Paix), it is an iconic symbol of peace, originally created as a lithograph in 1949. Picasso created several variations of the dove image; this specific version is dated 28.12.61 (December 28, 1961). Picasso's simple line drawing style captures the idea of peace with an optimistic and delicate image. The print, titled The Blue Dove (or La colombe bleue), is a color or offset lithograph created by Pablo Picasso. It was created for the Congrès national du mouvement de la paix held in Issy-Les-Moulineaux, France in March 1962, this works displays a hand-drawn dove carrying an olive branch. It was then turning to a internationally-recognized symbol of peace for inspiration. The beautiful Dove is in mid-flight with its wings outstretched, his dove invokes the mission of the conference held in the name of peace. It was designed for a poster advertising the National Congress of the Peace Movement held in France in March 1962. The dove holding an olive branch is a powerful and internationally recognized symbol of peace. More Details: Off Set Lithograph -60 H x 80 w -Plate-Signed, signature is printed. -print on medium weight stock paper printed France, 1996, published by Migneco & Smith. -This large print will be shipped rolled in a strong tube because its size. -The picture was made on December 28, 1961, the date, "28.12.61", is printed in the lower right corner of the artwork. -this is an authorised print signed-on-plate, which meant the master plate was signed and his signature was printed on each print that is authorised. A Picasso hand signed...
Ink, Archival Paper, Lithograph
$556Sale Price|20% Off
H 32 in W 20 in D 0.25 in
"Orange Row", Abstract Geometric Minimalist Composition w Ovals, Limited Edition
By Geoffrey Bowman
Located in Soquel, CA
"Orange Row", Abstract Geometric Minimalist Composition w Ovals, Limited Edition Delicate and perfect ovals in orange, yellow, red, and blue are purposefully arranged on lined paper...
Paper, Ink, Lithograph, Etching
$399Sale Price|20% Off
H 18 in W 14 in D 0.25 in
"Altered States of an Autorittrati" 3rd State, Modernist Blue Self-Portrait
By I. Colon
Located in Soquel, CA
Bold modernist self portrait in blue, a lithograph by California artist I. Colon (20th Century). Numbered, titled, and signed along the bottom edge ("2/6 "Altered States of an Aut...
Paper, Ink, Lithograph
$600Sale Price|20% Off
H 40 in W 28 in D 0.25 in
Kandinsky at Galerie Karl Flinker - 1977 Exhibition Poster - in Ink on Paper
By Wassily Kandinsky
Located in Soquel, CA
Kandinsky at Galerie Karl Flinker - 1977 Exhibition Poster - in Ink on Paper Poster with a reproduction of "Merry Structure" by Vassily Kandinsky (Russian, 1866-1944). This posted i...
Paper, Ink, Lithograph
Teal Lace Collotype Lithograph
By Patricia A. Pearce
Located in Soquel, CA
Delicate layered collotype on heavy bond paper by Patricia A. Pearce (American, b. 1948). This piece is unsigned, but was acquired with a collection of other Pearce work. No frame. I...
Paper, Ink, Lithograph
Rio de Janeiro
By Robert Rauschenberg
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Rio de Janeiro is a colorful, bold, graphic, and visually compelling offset-lithograph by blue chip, pop artist Robert Rauschenberg. In 1991, he was involved with th...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Lithograph, Offset
$612Sale Price|20% Off
H 36 in W 24 in D 0.03 in
White Lace and Ribbons Collotype
By Patricia A. Pearce
Located in Soquel, CA
Delicate and layered collotype on heavy bond paper by Patricia A. Pearce (American, b. 1948). The background of this piece is a collotype, whereas the lace, strings, and shadows are ...
Paper, Ink, Pencil, Lithograph, Acrylic
$1,250
H 22 in W 15.75 in
'White Iris', California Post-Impressionist Landscape, SJSU, Mount Madonna
By John Maxon
Located in Santa Cruz, CA
Signed lower right, "Maxon" for John Maxon (American, 20th century) and created circa 1995. Additionally titled, verso, 'White Flower'. Monotype with additional hand-painted detail. ...
Paper, Gouache, Monotype
untitled
By Richard Howard Hunt
Located in New York, NY
untitled 2023 lithograph by Richard Hunt. Published by Procuniar Workshop, this stone lithograph is signed (lower right recto) and numbered (lower l...
Archival Ink, Archival Paper, Lithograph
$765
H 24 in W 37.5 in D 0.03 in
Mixed Media Abstract Geometric: 2-Sided Collotype
By Patricia A. Pearce
Located in Soquel, CA
Delicate and layered collotype on both sides of heavy bond paper by Patricia A. Pearce (American, b. 1948). The background of this piece is a collotype. Gold leaf, treated in a varie...
Gold Leaf
Rested on A Beam
By Emily Mason
Located in New York, NY
Emily Mason Rested on A Beam, 2004 Oil on canvas painting Hand signed and dated in paint lower right front; also bears original LewAllen Galleries label verso Unique Framed measures:...
Oil
When April Woods are Red
By Emily Mason
Located in New York, NY
EMILY MASON When April Woods are Red, 1976 Oil on paper Signed and dated on the lower front This is a unique work Framed Poignant pastel oil on paper painting by renowned Abstract E...
Oil